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Junior Museum bald eagle returns home

Original post made
on Feb 25, 2013

A large bald eagle from the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo, who had flown to the Menlo Park area on Saturday, returned to its handler at around 6 p.m. Monday in a churchyard in the Friendly Acres area of Redwood City, the handler, John Aikin, said Monday night.

The related article at the bottom of this article states that Sequoia cannot live in the wild because of a gunshot wound that paralyzed her tail, which is why she is a resident of the zoos. Yet this article mentions her soaring in the sky above someone's back yard. Does the paralyzed tail prevent her from hunting? This is confusing. Perhaps the author, Dave Boyce, could clarify why she is able to fly so well with a paralyzed tail. Or has she just forgotten how to hunt?

Posted by Zoologist
a resident of Community Center
on Feb 25, 2013 at 3:57 pm

Having discussed Sequoia with JMZ employees , I learned that Sequoia cannot live free due to bone damage as well as a paralyzed tail. She has not hunted since a very young age, so probably never got a chance to hone her skills. There is a steep learning curve for a young, clumsy eagle learning to hunt efficiently.

She has been exercised every Saturday at 2 pm at Bixby Park. She may have seen an opportunity to run for it, or something, such as a shiny object, lenses of binoculars, or noisy humans may have frightened her into taking off.

Posted by jadesign
a resident of Menlo Park
on Feb 26, 2013 at 1:19 pm

I saw a very large bird soaring far above the Sequoia trees in Menlo Oaks this past weekend. This bird seemed to have a long cord or something attached to one of its feet -- does Sequoia fly around with a tether on one of her feet? Does she interact with other birds? There was another large bird flying near her.